Winter Food of Bobwhite Quail in Virginia

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Abstract
The contents of 495 crops of the bob-white quail (Colinus virginianus) collected in Va. between Nov. 15 and Jan. 31, principally during 1929 to 1931, were examined. The work was done in 1938 at the Food Habits Lab. of U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, using their accepted methods. Of the total food 98% was vegetable matter, predominantly seeds, and 2% was animal matter, principally insects. For certain plant spp. and groups marked variations occurred in the volume consumed from month to month as well as from section to section of the state. Native legumes were the most important source of food, followed in order of importance by ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), cultivated legumes, cultivated grains, mast, miscellaneous seeds, fruits, animal matter, forage and native grasses. Native and cultivated legumes together made over 40% of the total winter food. From cultivated crops of all kinds > 25% of the food was secured, and a large additional % resulted from agric. practices that encouraged the growth of ragweed and Japan clover (Lespedeza striata) throughout the Virginia countryside.

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